


10/25- Ghost Hunting

by quantumducky



Series: Spooky Month 2019 [2]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Fluff, Gen, Ghosts, Sanders Sides Spooky Month 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-06
Updated: 2019-11-06
Packaged: 2021-01-24 10:31:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21336799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quantumducky/pseuds/quantumducky
Summary: Patton joins his brothers on their ghost hunt, and makes a new friend.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Morality | Patton Sanders, Creativity | Roman & Logic | Logan & Morality | Patton
Series: Spooky Month 2019 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1521764
Comments: 10
Kudos: 69





	10/25- Ghost Hunting

**Author's Note:**

> this is very late but at least it is done
> 
> anyway it's always spooky time if you try hard enough so

Twelve-year-old Patton Sanders sighed and crossed his arms, leaning back in the creaky old porch swing. He didn’t even want to be here, really. Ghost hunting in some abandoned house that was supposed to be haunted hadn’t sounded like that much fun to begin with, especially the way his older brothers described it. Logan kept going on about proving whether ghosts existed at all, and it wasn’t very exciting to start out with the thought that what they were looking for probably didn’t exist in the first place! Roman, on the other hand, seemed convinced he could fight a ghost with his bare hands and become some sort of hero.

Patton didn’t like either of those ways of thinking about it, not that the twins listened to him—they were going into high school next year, so obviously they knew everything. They had only invited him at all because they wanted another person to help carry all the equipment they’d ordered from Amazon, and he’d agreed because he didn’t have much better to do that day. Then, as soon as they got to the house… 

“Um… Patton… maybe it’s best if you stay out here for now,” Logan had suggested when he’d tried to follow them in.

“We wouldn’t want you to get hurt if it turns out to be dangerous,” Roman added. “We’re technically responsible for you right now.”

“If everything seems safe, then you can join us.”

“Make sure nobody steals our bikes, okay?” With that last remark, they’d both disappeared into the house and shut the door, leaving him outside on the porch. He wasn’t _ mad _ at them exactly, but he wasn’t having a great time either. It was nice out, at least, but it was still _ boring _ out here, and if anybody came by and saw him they’d all probably get in trouble, and he hadn’t even thought to bring anything to entertain himself with.

Through the door, he tried to listen for what exactly they were doing in there. It sounded like mostly a lot of metallic _ clunk _ s as they set up their stuff, plus the muffled sound of each of them trying to tell the other he was doing it all wrong. Patton jumped and almost fell off the swing when something started making a horrible staticky noise, but he was _ pretty _ sure he remembered them saying it was supposed to do that. …For some reason. They would have demonstrated last night, but had ended up decided there was no point turning it on when there couldn’t possibly be a ghost in _ their _ house. (Patton was pretty sure they were afraid there _ might _ be, but he was nice enough not to say so.)

“Ghosts!” Roman called, loud enough to be heard clearly through the door. “If there truly is anyone… or any_ thing… _ haunting this house- come out and show yourself to us!”

Silence followed, except for the horrible static, of course. Logan gave it a try next. Less dramatic, but still loud enough to be heard from anywhere in the house, of course.

“If there are any spirits here, give us a sign of your presence.”

There was another silence from any potential ghosts. Logan started to say something else, but Roman was already trying a… different strategy, encouraged by the lack of response so far.

“Hello? Ghost? Get out here, unless you’re afraid to-”

He cut off with a muffled protest, and Logan hissed something at him Patton couldn’t make out. Roman was laughing almost too hard to continue. Only almost, though.

“Why not? The ghost is a coward!” Logan snapped at him to cut it out, but it was easy to tell he was laughing, too, however much he wanted to pretend he wasn’t. “Hey! Ghost! You’re-”

Patton had no _ idea _ what happened after _ that, _ but he heard a crash, and then his brothers screamed, and before he could finish scrambling off the swing to make sure they were okay they had already come running out of the house with everything they’d set up scooped haphazardly into their arms.

“What happened?! Did you see the ghost? Guys?”

They didn’t seem to hear him. They were busy sorting out the equipment to make sure it wasn’t damaged from their hasty exit, looking wide-eyed at each other and saying things like _ “do you think that got recorded?” _ and _ “Roman, I _ ** _told_ ** _ you not to do that-” “But it worked!” _

“Does that mean it’s not safe?” Patton tried again, except not very loudly. “If you don’t tell me it’s not safe, I’m gonna go in, okay?”

They did not, in fact, tell him anything of the sort, or even appear to notice he had said anything. So, feeling a _ little _ bit guilty, but not very, because they hadn’t been very nice to him so far today, he opened the door as quietly as he could and walked inside.

The interior of the possibly haunted house wasn’t all that impressive. Mostly, it was just dark and- he sneezed mid-thought- _ dusty. _ There wasn’t even any furniture. Which made sense, because there was no one living here- or, at least, no one _ living _ here- but it was still weird, walking through a house with completely empty rooms.

“Hello?” he called quietly. There was no answer, which was a little bit of a relief. “Uh, sorry about Roman and Logan. It sounded like they were being kinda rude, but they… didn’t mean it? I mean, I don’t think they thought you were real.” He paused again, shuffling his feet awkwardly. “I just wanted to say hi, I guess, if you’re there…” He waited a few more seconds, then sighed disappointedly and turned to leave.

“Hey.”

Patton squeaked and spun around. There was a boy standing behind him. He looked closer to the twins’ age than Patton’s, with dark clothes and dyed hair. More to the point, Patton could see through him.

“Oh- oh gosh, hi, I didn’t think that would actually work!”

The boy shrugged, almost embarrassed. “Not a lot of people to talk to when you’re haunting a house, so, if you’re not gonna be a jerk about it…”

“Of course not!” Patton started to put out his hand to shake, but stopped when he remembered his new friend wasn’t really… solid. “Um- I’m Patton, what’s your name?”

“Oh, uh…” Now he _ did _ look embarrassed. “It’s Virgil,” he muttered.

“That’s a cool name!” He smiled, and Virgil blinked and hesitantly smiled back.

* * *

It took far longer than either of them would have liked to admit for Logan and Roman to realize they couldn’t see Patton anymore. Logan dropped the camera he’d been bemoaning the lack of clear ghost images on and looked around a bit frantically, only to realize the door of the house was ajar.

“Oh. Oh, no.”

“We’ll just have to go back in there and save him,” Roman decided, pacing back and forth on the sidewalk. “Patton is _ not _ gonna get killed by a ghost on _ my _ watch!”

Logan had to agree. Much as he didn’t like the idea of possibly missing out on evidence, he also agreed they would have to leave the ghost-hunting equipment outside- if the ghost showed up again, it would be much easier to run away _ without _ all that. (Also, he was pretty sure half of that stuff was fake anyway.) They crept up to the door together and eased it open, almost holding their breath. They were not prepared for what they saw inside.

Patton was sitting cross-legged on the floor, and the ghost who’d appeared out of nowhere to scare them half to death earlier was in a similar position next to him, and as far as either of them could tell they were just… talking. As they watched in stunned silence, Patton cracked a terrible pun, and the ghost _ laughed. _

This was insane. Logan took a step forward, unsure if it was still a good plan to grab Patton and run, and a floorboard creaked. Both Patton and the ghost looked up. He resisted the urge to take a step _ back _ again. “Patton? What… are you doing?”

“Right- guys, this is Virgil! He’s sorry for scaring you earlier, _ right?” _ He stared at Virgil, who looked _ incredibly _ awkward and sheepish.

“Y-yeah. Sorry. I guess I overreacted a little.”

“A _ little?!” _ Roman scoffed. “I thought you were going to _ kill _ us!”

“And now,” Patton interrupted, raising his voice, “you two have to apologize for coming in here and being rude to him.”

They both looked at him with incredulous expressions. But then they looked a little to the side of him, at the ghost waiting expectantly, and mutually decided it might be a good idea to just go along with it.

“Yes… Of course. We apologize.”

“Sorry I called you a coward.”

Patton beamed. “There we go! Come sit with us, I was just telling Virgil about the last season of Steven Universe ‘cause he doesn’t have a TV in here and-”

“Well, I’m sorry to interrupt,” Logan interrupted, “but we do sort of need to go home. It’s getting close to dinner time.”

“Oh.” Patton slumped sadly, and Virgil looked disappointed as well. He leaned in and said something to Patton, very quietly.

“Yeah, of course!” Patton turned back to his brothers. “We can come back to visit again, right?”

They glanced at each other. “Why?”

“To see my new friend?” But they didn’t seem to be particularly swayed by that, so he added, “And if you don’t, I’ll tell mom you brought me here in the first place.”

Now _ that _ was a threat. “Fine,” Roman agreed quickly, “whatever- do _ not _ tell her _ anything _ about this.” Virgil was laughing. Roman waited until Patton was looking away and made a face at him. Apparently, just because he was dead didn’t mean he was above being just as childish and making one back.

“Come on,” Logan said to both of them- still not willing to leave the safety of the doorway- and Patton stood up reluctantly and followed him out. Just before closing the door behind him, he turned back and waved to Virgil.

“Bye,” he called. “See you later!”

After a moment, Virgil smiled and waved in return. “Yeah… Later.”


End file.
